Refugees Should Not Be Political Footballs

I was on the Greek island of Lesbos this summer, not as a witness to the refugee crisis, but as a wedding guest. I came home a witness. Refugees were landing daily by the hundreds very close to where we were staying and were walking, all day and all night, across the island to a miserable camp, their futures uncertain. The images from those nine days have been haunting me ever since.

The global risks of not addressing this terrible human crisis far outweigh any minor risk of both taking in refugees and increasing aid to displaced people in camps all over the world. The U.S. takes only refugees who have been thoroughly vetted and interviewed, most of whom have been living in camps for years. The focus is on children. To think that the recent events in Paris and Beirut change those facts is absurd. We should be taking more refugees, not less.

The way in which some politicians and candidates are using this human tragedy to inflame fear and hatred for their own political gain is what is putting our country and our values at serious risk. We must not fall into that trap.